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Farmers' Market Finds: The Season's Finale With Chef Adam Branz

Sunday, October 29, 2017 at 11:01 p.m.

Linnea Covington Chef Adam Branz (right) joined us with his sous, Quinn Polsinelli (left) at the last Union Station Farmers' Market of the season. The chefs will be opening up Ultreia in the station come November. 1/47

Linnea Covington Butterball potatoes from ACRES at Warren Tech. 2/47

Linnea Covington Josh Olsen of ACRES at Warren Tech shows off a tiny hybrid spaghetti squash. 3/47

Linnea Covington Branz does what every excited chef does, he goes straight to the chefs' cooler at Josh Olsen's stand. 4/47

Linnea Covington Brightly colored and crisp mixed spicy greens at ACRES at Warren Tech's stand. 5/47

Linnea Covington Branz may be the most organized chef we toured with at the market. He brought a list and a plan. 6/47

Linnea Covington Piles of soft- and hard-necked garlic from Rocky Mountain Fresh. 7/47

Linnea Covington The chosen garlic clutched in Polsinelli's hand. 8/47

Linnea Covington Beautiful red cabbage at the Denver Botanic Gardens stand. 9/47

Linnea Covington Chef Branz went for some green kohlrabi from the Denver Botanic Gardens's stand. 10/47

Linnea Covington Culinary lavender, great for cooking and for making some cocktails. 11/47

Linnea Covington The magical giant oyster mushroom varietal called phoenix from Mile High Fungi. 12/47

Linnea Covington Celery does have a season and this is it. Branz picked up a bunch from Cure Organic Farm. 13/47

Linnea Covington Delicata squash also had a place in the chef's basket. 14/47

Linnea Covington Chefs Branz and Polsinelli show off the goods they found at Cure Organic Farm. 15/47

Linnea Covington Beautiful butternut squash from Cure Organic Farm out of Boulder. 16/47

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Linnea Covington Although the last day of the Union Station Farmers' Market proved quiet and a little sparse, there were still plenty of delicious things to eat. 18/47

Linnea Covington Branz's cart full of goodies. 19/47

Linnea Covington We picked up some 'nduja from Il Porcellino. 20/47

Linnea Covington Fresh eggs from Serendipity Farm out of Boulder. 21/47

Linnea Covington Tiny and delicious pies from Hinman's Bakery. 22/47

Linnea Covington Chef Branz picked up some ciabatta loaves from Hinman's Bakery. 23/47

Linnea Covington The Ultreia chefs with their wagon full of goodies. 24/47

Linnea Covington Since Ultreia isn't open yet, we wandered over to cook in Rioja's kitchen. Branz is actually creating some specials for the restaurant that are inspired by what he will be making at Ultreia when it opens at the end of November. 25/47

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Linnea Covington Sous chef Quin Polsinelli peels potatoes and kohlrabi for a market take on the Spanish salt cod dish, brandade. 27/47

Linnea Covington Chef Branz whips up some aioli for an octopus dish that's a play on papas arrugadas. 28/47

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Linnea Covington The butterball potatoes got cooked in apple cider vinegar to give them a tart bite. 30/47

Linnea Covington A lovely plate of octopus getting prepped in the Rioja kitchen. 31/47

Linnea Covington Chef Branz squeezing the 'nduja out of its casing. 32/47

Linnea Covington The potatoes and kohlrabi cook in a milk and herb broth while chef Branz melts the 'nduja in a pan. 33/47

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Linnea Covington Branz whips the melted 'nduja with the aioli to make a meaty, slightly spicy sauce for the vinegar potatoes. 35/47

Linnea Covington First frost tarragon foraged from the chefs' cooler at ACRES at Warren Tech's stand. 36/47

Linnea Covington Branz creates his mis en place before plating his octopus dish. 37/47

Linnea Covington Getting ready to cook the octopus tentacle. 38/47

Linnea Covington There's no real name for this Spanish-inspired octopus dish. It's a version of patatas arrogodas with a tender tentacle of pressure-cooked octopus. 39/47

Linnea Covington Salt cod ready to get mixed with potatoes, kohlrabi, garlic, cream and herbs. 40/47

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Linnea Covington Polsinelli crushing garlic cloves like a boss. 42/47

Linnea Covington All the ingredients for the brandade are in the food processor and ready to get pureed together. 43/47

Linnea Covington Branz runs raw garlic over a toasted piece of the ciabatta from Hinman's Bakery. 44/47

Linnea Covington The brandade is ready and gets a hint of flame. 45/47

Linnea Covington Fresh celery leaves give the brandade its final flourish. 46/47

Linnea Covington Tada! Brandade made with salt cod, potatoes, kohlrabi and herbs; served with ciabatta flavored with garlic and a dollop of tomato dijon. 47/47

Farmers' Market Finds: The Season's Finale With Chef Adam Branz

The farmers' market at Union Station (part of Boulder County Farmers Markets) is officially over, for this year at least. But as one thing ends, another begins. In this case, it's a new restaurant at the station called Ultreia, slated to open at the end of November. Chef Adam Branz will be in charge of the kitchen there, and he, along with sous-chef Quinn Polsinelli, joined us for that last romp around the stalls.

Branz certainly had a plan for our shopping trip. He even had a clipboard with notes that he and Polsinelli checked off at each stop. The first was ACRES, and there the chefs scored dirty little butterball potatoes, baby onions, a bag of spicy greens, rosemary, "first frost" tarragon and fresh bay leaf. He also visited Cure Organic Farm, the Denver Botanic Gardens, Rocky Mountain Fresh, il porcellino salumi, Serendipity Farm and Hinman's Bakery. From there we headed to Rioja (Ultreia's sister restaurant) to cook the goods. Read the complete story of what he came up with from our last farmers' market tour of 2017.